Freddie Mac Sets New Short Sale Timelines, Fannie To Follow

REAL ESTATE

(KaraHomes video)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Freddie Mac, the federally owned company that buys mortgages from local lenders, says it wants to make the short sale process easier on home sellers by updating its timelines for short sales and requiring better communication from lenders.

Last year, Freddie Mac completed 45,623 short sales. Currently there are 562 short sales for sale and 1,569 are contingent upon bank approval in Brevard County.

This new timeline will have a positive impact in Brevard’s short sale real estate market.

McCoy

“The new Freddie Timeline will help open up the doors for many buyers who would have been interested in taking advantage of the wonderful short sale prices but just did not have the time to wait. Many of our buyers have an urgency for a quick close so short sales just were not an option,” said Brevard County Realtor Jennifer McCoy with RE/MAX Elite.

“I think this will definitely help to increase sales and reduce the amount of inventory”

The initiative is part of the Servicing Alignment Initiative (SAI) Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae launched in 2011 at the direction of their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Yesterday, FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must adopt the new short-sale guidelines, and the latter announced compliance shortly after that.

Mooney

“Freddie Mac’s new timelines are intended to help make the decision process more transparent and timely for short sales under the Obama Administration’s HAFA program or Freddie Mac’s traditional short-sale option,” says Tracy Mooney, Freddie Mac senior vice president, single-family servicing.

Freddie Mac Proposals

• Loan servicers should make a decision within 30 days of receiving 1) an offer on a property under Freddie Mac’s traditional short sale program or 2) a completed Borrower Response Package (BRP) requesting consideration for a short sale under HAFA or Freddie Mac’s traditional short sale program. BRPs are standardized assistance applications developed under the Servicing Alignment Initiative.

• If a lender needs more than 30 days, it must give homeowners a status update at least weekly, and a final decision must be made in less than 60 days.

• If a servicer makes a counteroffer, the borrower must respond within five business days. The servicer then has 10 more business days to respond to the buyer.

Freddie Mac says it will use the new timelines to evaluate servicer compliance with the SAI and its own servicing requirements.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Freeman

Bobby Freeman, a life-time resident of Brevard County, has been a top Realtor in the area for two decades. In his first year as an agent, Freeman received a Rising Star award from his Brokers. Since then he has achieved numerous sales awards and has recently been presented with the prestigious RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award.

Freeman, Jennifer McCoy and Nikki McCoy Freeman are family partners for RE/MAX Elite’s McCoy-Freeman Group. Together they have more than 30 years of extensive experience in all aspects of the real estate industry and have sold over $150 million. Among McCoy-Freeman Group’s achievement are RE/MAX Hall of Fame, RE/MAX 100% Club, Certified Distressed Property Experts (CDPE), Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR) and voted Best Realtor in Brevard County. The group has been featured in many news publications including CNN Money Magazine, CNNMoney.com, WFTV 9 ABC News, Florida Today, Coastal Condo Living, & Hot Retirement Towns Magazine and SpaceCoastDaily.com.